Victory in Florida Feeding Case Emboldens the Religious Right

By ABBY GOODNOUGH

Published: October 24, 2003

Correction Appended

PINELLAS PARK, Fla., Oct. 23—
Religious conservatives say that with an arsenal of prayer vigils, Christian radio broadcasts and thousands of e-mail messages to Florida lawmakers, they played a pivotal role in the legislative battle this week over whether to feed a brain-damaged woman who has been kept alive artificially for 13 years.

Now some conservatives are hoping to use similar tactics to help them challenge court rulings they opposed in other states.

Randall Terry, founder of the anti-abortion group Operation Rescue, said he and other conservatives intended to use what they consider a stunning victory here to pressure lawmakers elsewhere to chip away at court rulings allowing abortion and banning organized prayer in schools and the posting of the Ten Commandments in public schools, among other issues.

''Finally, a governor and legislature had the courage to stand up to judicial despots because of an overwhelming call by the public,'' Mr. Terry said.

Mr. Terry, who had largely retreated from public life since the aggressive and sometimes violent abortion protests of the 1980's and early 90's, stood with the parents of Terri Schiavo as they pleaded for her life on television last week and lobbied legislators in Tallahassee before their vote on Tuesday. That vote gave Gov. Jeb Bush the authority to order that Ms. Schiavo, 39, be provided nourishment, six days after her feeding tube was removed.

''It's a crack in the wall,'' Mr. Terry said, ''and it shows that we can return to self-government, where it is three separate and equal branches of government.''

The religious right was out in force in the days leading up to the vote: outside the hospice here where Terri Schiavo lay dying, pickets from around Florida and the nation waved signs quoting biblical verse and accusing Mr. Bush of murder. On Christian radio, talk show hosts implored listeners to hold Mr. Bush and state legislators responsible if Mrs. Schiavo did not survive. And thousands of e-mail messages opposing her death on religious grounds jammed those lawmakers' computers, warning that they would be sorry if they did not stop the court-ordered removal of Mrs. Schiavo's feeding tube.

''The Republican Party wants to present itself as the pro-life, pro-family party,'' Mr. Terry said. ''This pro-life, pro-family governor could not afford to not intervene in some way.''

Mr. Terry attended an important meeting last week between Governor Bush and Mrs. Schiavo's parents, Bob and Mary Schindler, during which the governor promised to try to stop Mrs. Schiavo's death. Mrs. Schiavo's husband, Michael, had persuaded the courts that she would have wanted the tube withdrawn.

Mrs. Schiavo's heart stopped beating briefly one night when she was 26, and she has been severely brain-damaged and unable to eat or drink on her own ever since. She can, however, breathe on her own, and her parents insist that she responds to them.

Michael Schiavo has sued the state, saying the new law is unconstitutional.

The legislative vote broke largely along party lines: in the House, 67 Republicans and 6 Democrats voted for the law, while one Republican and 23 Democrats voted against it and 22 members did not vote. In the Senate, 20 Republicans and 3 Democrats voted yes, while 6 Republicans and 9 Democrats voted no and 2 members did not vote.

''I have never had a worse day as a senator,'' said Senator Tom Lee, a Republican from Brandon who said he voted reluctantly for the bill. ''You could feel how rotten people felt having to vote on this.''

Mr. Bush is in his second and last term as governor, but many politicians believe he may run for president in 2008. In the meantime, he is the point man in Florida for his brother's presidential campaign. And after 2000, when George Bush carried Florida by only 537 votes, the Republicans are doing everything they can to ensure a decisive victory next year.

Meanwhile, State Representative Johnnie B. Byrd Jr., a Republican who is speaker of the House, is running for the United States Senate on a far-right platform, and he was eager to claim much of the credit for ''Terri's Law.''

Two weeks ago Mr. Byrd announced that he was leaving the Episcopal Church and becoming a Baptist because of the recent Episcopal vote to allow the consecration of a gay bishop. He also pushed unsuccessfully this fall for a special session to vote on a measure to require parental notification for minors seeking abortions.

State Senator James E. King Jr., a Republican who is president of the Senate, has less at stake: he cannot seek re-election after his current term is up, and has not hinted at other political ambitions. But while Mr. King said he had qualms about bringing the Schiavo bill to a vote -- he was one of the strongest supporters of the right-to-die law that the Legislature passed in 1988 -- he allowed Senator Daniel Webster, a Republican who is challenging Mr. Byrd in the primary race for the United States Senate, to submit a rival bill to the one that the House originally voted on, on Monday evening.

Correction: October 25, 2003, Saturday A front-page article yesterday about religious conservatives' role in the Florida legislative battle over reinserting a feeding tube in a brain-damaged woman gave a misspelled surname in some copies for a University of South Florida professor who said most lawmakers appeared to have voted their conscience. She is Susan MacManus, not McManus.